Murrow Grad. AU Alumnus. Multimedia Pro.

The Good, The Bad and The Verdict: Fallout 4 – Far Harbor DLC

As I sit down to write this review it is four in the morning at my current location. I’m tired, itchy and have just spent the last nine hours in the best DLC released by Bethesda Games to date for their latest entry in the Fallout series. After two mediocre entries, we finally have what feels like a proper expansion on our hands. Though pretty good, it is too not immune from annoyances.

You start off this piece of DLC (As you always do with ones in the modern Fallout games.) by tuning in to a radio signal from Valentines Detective Agency in Diamond City, I really wish they’d come up with a better way to get these things to start. After a brief stop off at the office and picking up Nick to come along on the journey (Seriously, you need to bring him to enjoy the piece fully.), you set off on the trail of a girl who went missing in the main map.

Sure enough, she tore off to join in a new community on a mysterious and isolated island off the coast of Maine. Upon arriving, you’re called upon to fight some monsters creeping out of the fog that cloaks the landscape even in day time (Reminds me of The Mist by Frank Darabont.) and then are sent off to explore. Sure, Bethesda gives you a new companion, but its best with Nick.

The landscape here lives up to their claim of being the biggest they’ve ever built. I can’t know for certain. But I am fairly sure that it dwarfs the previous map created for the Shivering Isles.

Narrative wise, the story is far more classic Fallout than either Fallout 3 or 4 ever were in their main quests. Here, the developers really went out of their way to show that no faction is totally good or evil and made an impressively complex scenario for the player to have an impact on.

Though most of the game was great, things do slow down a bit towards the end of the main campaign. I won’t spoil it totally, but let’s just say that a page is taken from the vanilla games main quest and you’ll be immensely frustrated trying to solve the puzzle laid out on your own.

Once that dreck is done, things come to a close in a conclusion I am just now beginning to explore. I don’t know what exactly will happen, but based on what I’ve seen so far I have no doubt that the ending will be just as solid as the rest of this downloadable entry turned out to be.

The Good: The atmosphere, length and narrative are really well done in this entry. The shortness of Automatron and the emptiness of Wasteland Workshop this is not. I know this may seem silly to say, but at some points during the campaign I felt reminded of design from Obsidian, truly.

The Bad: A late stage puzzle sequence slows the action to a crawl and will prove to be more than frustrating for more than a few players. When it comes up don’t bother trying to do it on your own. Go to the internet like a modern day games player and use YouTube to finish it.

The Verdict: And allow me to use a Boston accent whilst I say this, Fah Habah is the best DLC currently available for Fallout 4. If you have the season pass, play it first. If you don’t and don’t care about achievements, you can skip Automatron and Wasteland Workshop and just get this.